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Larry King is a New Yorker for Marriage Equality

Celebrated TV and radio host hopes to end institutionalized discrimination in New York

5/12/2011

WASHINGTON – Today Larry King, the legendary television and radio personality and former host of CNN’s “Larry King Live” released a video with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, for its “New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign.” In the video, King discusses the injustice of denying marriage from loving and committed same-sex couples. He says he can’t figure out why “Some couples can get married again and again, while others can’t get married at all.” The campaign, which raises the public profile of marriage equality in New York, can be viewed online at www.hrc.org/NY4marriage.

“As New York prepares for a vote on marriage equality, we are thrilled to have such an iconic native New Yorker and one of the nation’s most recognizable and respected TV personalities lend his voice to the cause,” said HRC Senior New York Strategist Brian Ellner.

A recent poll released by the Siena Research Institute shows public opinion continues to trend toward marriage equality in New York State with a record high of 58 percent support and a record low of 36 percent opposition.

King, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has been honored with an Emmy Award and two Peabody Awards for his work. He was also inducted into both the Radio Hall of Fame and the Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

The New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign is centered on video testimonials from New Yorkers who support the right of same-sex couples to marry. To date, HRC has released videos from Larry King, Sean Avery, Julianna Margulies, Bill T. Jones, Sam Waterston, Christopher Meloni, Mario Batali, David Chang, Tom Colicchio, Lucy Liu, Bill Bratton and Rikki Klieman, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Former New York City Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, Russell Simmons, Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo, John Slattery, Joan Rivers, Barbara Bush, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Fran Drescher, Moby, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Julianne Moore and Kenneth Cole – with more to follow in the coming weeks.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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To contact HRC please visit our contact us page. If you are a member of the media, you can reach our press office at: (202) 772-3889 or email press@hrc.org.

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There are roughly 9 million LGBT people in the US and more than 650,000 same-sex couples.

19% of same-sex couples are raising children according to the US Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey.

There is no federal law that consistently protects LGBT individuals from employment discrimination; there are no state laws in 29 states that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, and in 32 states that do so based on gender identity.